Across Virginia
A suspect has been taken into custody without incident following a six hour stand off in the 1600 block of 16th Street in Southeast Roanoke.. William L. Nichols, 53 of Roanoke, was taken into custody and existing warrants from our jurisdiction were served. Mr. Nichols does have warrants from other jurisdictions as well.Thank you to everyone who assisted us by sharing information and avoiding the immediate area while officers worked. Officers will continue to be in this area to finish up the investigation, but all roads are now open.
Domino’s latest addition to their fleet is paying off in more ways than one. WFIR’s Emma Thomas has more on the new electric vehicles delivering pizza all around Roanoke:
State Democrat lawmakers are calling on the Youngkin administration to reconsider a policy that changes how felons restore their voting rights. WFIR’s Clark Palmer has more.
Northern Virginia Democratic US Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton announced yesterday that she has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. In a video posted to Twitter, Wexton said the disease has primarily affected her speech and how she walks and keeps her balance.
Wexton revealed her diagnosis on World Parkinson’s Day. She says she hopes to continue serving in Congress for years to come.
ROANOKE, Va. – A federal grand jury in Roanoke, Virginia has indicted James Howard Spencer, the Mayor of Glen Lyn, Virginia, for his alleged violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA).
The CWA was enacted by Congress to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological quality of the nation’s waterways.
The indictment, returned under seal March 9, 2023 and unsealed following the defendant’s initial court appearance, charges Spencer with three counts of violating the CWA.
“The protection of our nation’s waters is critical to ensuring environmental justice for all the residents of the Western District of Virginia,” United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh said today. “When individuals – especially those in positions of authority –pollute our rivers and streams in violation of the law, our Office will hold them accountable.”
“The defendant abused his position of authority and violated the public’s trust by ordering public employees of Glen Lyn to illegally discharge raw sewage into the East River, a tributary of the New River,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Richard Conrad. “EPA is committed to prosecuting those who choose to violate our environmental laws, especially those who hold a position of public trust such as Mayor Spencer.”
The indictment alleges that Spencer directed employees of the Town of Glen Lyn to pump sewage and other pollutants from a pump station located behind the Glyn Lyn Post Office into the East River, which is a perennial stream and tributary of the New River. Spencer took these alleged actions on three separate occasions, in the summer of 2019, December 2020, and again in June 2021.
United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh, Colonel Gary T. Settle, Superintendent of the Virginia State Police, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Richard Conrad made the announcement today.
The ongoing investigation is being jointly handled by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Virginia State Police.
Assistant U.S. Attorney and Environmental Justice Coordinator Michael Baudinet is prosecuting the case for the United States.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Last night, Virginia Tech’s women made history against Ohio State. WFIR’s Emma Thomas has more on their progression in the NCAA tournament:
SEATTLE (AP) — Virginia Tech coach Kenny Brooks stood at the stop of the ladder about to trim the final strands from the net when the familiar thumping beat started blaring through the speakers of the arena.
The Hokies’ first Final Four berth deserved a little Metallica and a little “Enter Sandman.”
Elizabeth Kitley scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Georgia Amoore added 24 points and top-seeded Virginia Tech advanced to the Final Four with an 84-74 win over No. 3 seed Ohio State in the Seattle 3 Regional final on Monday night.
For the seventh time in the past 10 Final Fours there will be a first-time participant and it’s the champions of the ACC, adding another accomplishment to the best season in school history.
Playing in its first regional final, Virginia Tech (31-4) won its 15th straight game and will head to the Final Four having not lost in more than two months. The Hokies will face LSU in the national semifinals on Friday in Dallas.
“We’re not just going to the Final Four. We’re in the Final Four. That’s something that means the world to me,” Brooks said.
Kitley, the Hokies 6-foot-6 center and leading scorer this season, took over on the interior in the second half. She scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter and her three-point play gave Virginia Tech a 70-60 lead.
Amoore hit her fourth 3-pointer of the game to push the lead to 13. Ohio State pulled within six in the final minute, but the Hokies were nearly perfect at the foul line down the stretch.
After the final buzzer sounded, “Enter Sandman” blasted throughout Climate Pledge Arena for the first time, setting off an even louder party for the Hokies fans in attendance.
And it played again as Brooks stood on the ladder above the celebration.
“I don’t know if you envision it more than you dream it. Obviously this is not easy and one day I will sit back and realize how hard it was for us to get here and realize we are one of four teams standing,” Brooks said.
Amoore shook off the scare of a potential injury in the first half to scored 16 points in the second half. She had a career-high 29 in the regional semifinal win over Tennessee. Cayla King added 12 points, all in the first half for the Hokies.
“This group, we all come from different places, but this year we came together because we all wanted the same thing,” Kitley said. “It’s so nice to be at this spot but we know that we don’t want to be done either yet because we have so much fun playing together.”
Taylor Mikesell led Ohio State (28-8) with 25 points, but 19 of those came in the first half. Mikesell didn’t score the first 16 minutes of the second half before hitting a 3-pointer with 3:35 remaining.
Jacy Sheldon scored 19 and Big Ten freshman of the year Cotie McMahon added 18. But the pressure defense that Ohio State used to befuddle UConn into 25 turnovers in the regional semifinal was easily handled by Amoore and the Hokies in the opening minutes and mostly abandoned by the Buckeyes.
“I felt we were a little tired coming into it. We put so much energy into Saturday’s game and we didn’t quite have the same energy in the press,” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. “And when you don’t have it, it’s tough because you can really get but up on the back end and give up easy baskets.”
Ohio State was looking to join its Big Ten Conference partner Iowa in reaching the Final Four for the first time in 30 years. The Buckeyes stayed with Virginia Tech shot-for-shot through a highly entertaining and high scoring first half.
But the shots that dropped in the first 20 minutes stopped falling in the second half. Ohio State shot 64% in the first half, including five 3-pointer from Mikesell, but that dropped to just 28% in the second half.
“We got the stops we wanted. We didn’t make the most of them on offense,” Sheldon said. “We didn’t execute the way we wanted to. So props to them. They played a great game.”
RARE COMPANY
Brooks is the third Black male coach to take a team to the women’s Final Four and second since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1994. Winthrop McGriff with Cheyney in 1984 and Quentin Hillsman with Syracuse in 2016 were the others. Brooks is in his seventh season in Blacksburg.
“I do know that when I was trying to make a name for myself, there wasn’t very many people that were doing it or advocating for people that looked like me. In this profession, I think that we belong. I think that there’s a place for Black males to come in and be a positive influence,” Brooks said before the Sweet 16.
SEATTLE (AP) — Throughout this historic season for Virginia Tech, coach Kenny Brooks has repeated the belief that Elizabeth Kitley is the best player for the Hokies, but Georgia Amoore is the most important.
It was proven again Saturday with Amoore carrying Virginia Tech to a level it’s never reached before in program history.
Amoore scored a career-high 29 points and the top-seeded Hokies advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history with a 73-64 win over No. 4 seed Tennessee.
“I just want to win. All we have to do is keep winning to get people to talk about us, so we’ll keep trying to win,” Amoore said.
The Hokies (30-4) won their 14th straight game overall and advanced to a matchup with No. 3 seed Ohio State in the Seattle 3 Regional final on Monday night. Ohio State topped UConn in the first semifinal, ending the Huskies’ streak of 14 straight Final Four appearances.
Amoore and the Hokies used a dominant stretch spanning the end of the second quarter and beginning of the third that built enough of a cushion to hold off Tennessee’s valiant rally over the final 12 minutes.
Amoore attempted 19 3-pointers in the Hokies’ second-round win, but shot only 14 this time around.
“She’s only doing now what we see all the time. When the kids have to go out and guard her, they really tighten up their shoestrings because they know that there’s something that can happen,” Brooks said. “But she’s phenomenal. She’s as good as anybody in the country, in my opinion. She’s playing with the utmost confidence and she’s been playing like this ever since we really started this stretch.”
Kayana Traylor added 14 points and Kitley scored 12 points despite sitting a big chunk of the first half with foul trouble. The ACC Tournament champions had reached the Sweet 16 only once previously in school history and are now one win away from the Final Four.
“I’m just so happy that I landed at such an amazing spot where we did exactly what we wanted to,” Kitley said. “And it hasn’t been easy and it’s taken coach Brooks a few years, but what he’s done with the program and the amount of time is incredible.”
Jordan Horston led Tennessee (25-12) with 17 points. Rickea Jackson scored 15 and Jordan Walker added 12.
The Lady Vols reached the regional semifinals for the second straight season, but haven’t been to the Elite Eight since 2016. And it was their offense that was so impressive in the first two rounds that disappeared against the Hokies.
“I felt like we were locked in and focused before the game. We had good energy in warmup, so nothing with that. But we just were a little stagnant on the offensive end,” Walker said.
The Lady Vols scored 95 points in their first-round win over Saint Louis and followed up with 94 in an impressive blowout of Toledo. But Tennessee relied too much on perimeter shots early on, to the point coach Kellie Harper yelled at her team “who are we?” after attempting their 12th 3-pointer of the first half.
Tennessee made just 3 of 17 attempts from beyond the arc against the Hokies after making 11 of 22 in the win over Toledo.
“They did a good job with our first attack and we got really impatient,” Harper said. “I thought we were really stagnant offensively, and therefore we were settling. We took way too many threes for us in the first half.”
The Hokies closed the first half with a flourish, scoring the final eight points to take a 35-22 lead at the break. Amoore started the second half with her fourth 3-pointer of the game and Kitley scored on the interior and quickly a five-point game ballooned to a 40-22 Virginia Tech lead.
Tennessee trimmed the deficit to nine by the end of the third quarter and its surge continued into the fourth quarter. The Lady Vols capped the 19-4 run with Jasmine Powell’s 3-pointer with 6:05 left and pulled with 53-52.
But turnovers and fouls started to mount and for the Lady Vols and Virginia Tech pushed its lead back to 11 on Amoore’s jumper with 2:10 remaining.
“It was a challenge. I’m glad we pulled away from it,” Amoore said. “It’s what we’re going to see with Ohio State with their press. Glad we got a little taste of it today. Now we know.”
Roanoke College is partnering with Virginia Tech to give students a pathway to a master’s degree. WFIR’s Clark Palmer has that story.
March 24, 2023/Salem, Va. Roanoke College and Virginia Tech have entered a partnership that will benefit students in science fields and serve as an engine for economic, workforce and educational development in Virginia. The two agreements that make up the partnership will allow Roanoke College students to pursue graduate programs at Virginia Tech and facilitate an early transition to graduate school.
The announcement comes amid a larger, historic investment being made by state leaders, employers and philanthropic donors to grow Virginia’s workforce in high-priority tech fields. The Tech Talent Investment Program has marshaled more than $2 billion to date to support initiatives designed to more than double the number of students statewide who are earning computer-related degrees and capitalize on major opportunities such as the Amazon HQ2 project in Northern Virginia.
The new Direct to Tech program provides Roanoke College students direct admission into Virginia Tech Master of Engineering programs in either computer science and applications or computer engineering upon graduation from Roanoke College. Direct to Tech is open to all Roanoke College seniors with a 3.0 GPA, regardless of major, who have completed certain required courses. The partnership will reduce the timeline for admission and give students an early transition into the Virginia Tech graduate programs, which are delivered from the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus in Northern Virginia. The first building of the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, located just outside the nation’s capital, opens to students in fall 2024. Students currently enrolled in Innovation Campus master’s degree programs are attending classes at the university’s Falls Church location.
“This program will provide students with the opportunity to take advantage of the best that Roanoke College and Virginia Tech have to offer. We’re thrilled that Roanoke is the first college in Virginia to sign on to this program. The Roanoke College and Virginia Tech partnership is about access for our students and opportunities for their incredible futures,” said Roanoke College President Frank Shushok Jr. “Maroons and Hokies are celebrating, and the pathways and possibilities to and from Roanoke College are even stronger. This is a tremendous arrangement and partnership for us, for Virginia Tech and for the commonwealth.”
Asecond agreement between the two schools allows Roanoke College students to take advantage of an accelerated 4+1 undergraduate/graduate program in computer science or computer engineering at Virginia Tech. This partnership enables students to take courses that apply toward a bachelor’s degree at Roanoke Collegeand an accelerated master’s degree at Virginia Tech. This means students can earn a Bachelor of Science in four years, then complete the master’s with just one additional year at Virginia Tech. This program is open to any Roanoke College computer science major who has earned at least a 3.3 GPA and completed certain courses, including Calculus II, as part of their undergraduate degree.
“We are thrilled to partner with Roanoke College to launch our first Direct to Tech program and additional 4+1 opportunities,” said Lance Collins, vice president and executive director of the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus. “The Innovation Campus is dedicated to increasing opportunities for underrepresented students while expanding access to tech talent in the national capital region. We look forward to welcoming Roanoke College graduates to our Master of Engineering program.”
As part of both the Direct to Tech and accelerated 4+1 agreements, Roanoke College students will not have to pay application fees or submit GRE scores to Virginia Tech. For the 4+1 program, Virginia Tech may provide significant financial support for students, particularly through state and industry funding earmarked to support women, underrepresented minorities, first-generation students and veterans.
From U.S. Cellular — ROANOKE, Va. (March 22, 2023) – UScellular announced the winners of its 16th Annual Black History Month Art Contest with Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Virginia at a celebration at the club located at 1714 9th Street, SE in Roanoke, March 17. The company also announced that it is extending its commitment for two more years of 160 wireless hotspots and service worth $184,160 to the club to help provide equitable learning access and keep local youth connected during the school year.
Public voting for the finalists’ art was available online, and the winning artists were awarded gift cards in the following amounts:
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Aurelia Stoval, 8 from Rocky Mount received $250 for 1st Place for a portrait of Mae Jemison
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Trinity Dooley, 11, from Rocky Mount received $150 for 2nd Place for a portrait of Mae Jemison
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Lynneisa Redd, 11, from Shawsville received $100 for 3rd Place for a portrait of Katherine Johnson
Photo: Aurelia Stoval, 8, first place winner from Rocky Mount
Photo: Trinity Dooley, 11, second place winner from Rocky Mount
Photo: Lynnesia Redd, 11, third place winner from Shawsville
In recognition of influential Black STEM icons, Boys & Girls Club members were encouraged to create original pieces of artwork of important historical figures, world leaders, scientists and educators who have made vital contributions to the world of STEM.
Ten finalists were chosen by representatives from the Boys & Girls Club based on creativity, quality, interpretation, clarity of theme and overall impression. Public voting for the finalists was made available online throughout the month of February. In addition, the finalists’ artwork was digitally displayed in UScellular retail locations in the greater Roanoke area.
“We love working with Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Virginia to celebrate Black History Month and to highlight the achievements of Black STEM icons such as Mae Jemison and Katherine Johnson,” said Nakeita Stewart, director of sales and operations for UScellular in the Mid-Atlantic. “The creativity that Club members displayed in their artwork was inspiring and we congratulate our participants and winners in this year’s contest.”
Since the Black History Month Art Contest began at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Virginia, UScellular has awarded $13,600 in gift cards and impacted thousands of area youth. The extension of the 160 wireless hotspots and service to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Virginia is part of UScellular’s After School Access Project. UScellular has pledged up to $13 million in hotspots and service to help up to 50,000 youth connect to reliable internet in its markets. For more information about UScellular’s corporate social responsibility initiatives, please go to https://newsroom.uscellular.com/community/.